ohmg-dev
[Request] Import from other sites
Describe the feature or enhancement you're looking for My understanding is that currently, OldInsuranceMaps is only able to import from the Library of Congress website. However, there are many insurance maps that LOC lacks but other sites have. For example, Kent State has a large collection of Sanborn maps for Ohio. They are the only source for some maps such as Cincinnati 1904 vol 1 and Cincinnati 1934 vol 1. The Cincinnati Public Library is the only source for some non-Sanborn maps, such as the Central Map Survey & Publishing Co's 1891 insurance map and Robinson's 1884 atlas. It would be great to be able to georectify these with OldInsuranceMaps (I have tried to do so with MapWarper, but its editor doesn't support high zoom levels and it's generally not as fit for the job as OIM's tools).
You're right, currently OldInsuranceMaps.net only directly supports loading from the LOC collection, though I have built a framework in the backend to make it fairly easy to create new "importer" classes that would handle ingestion from different sources. However, much of the site still has a lot of assumptions built in about everything coming from the LOC, so there are a few non-trivial cosmetic changes that need to take place as well.
Beyond the technical side of this request, there are the organizational considerations, as different institutions may have different rights and access stipulations for their digital materials.
All of that to say, I appreciate you bringing this up (you aren't the first to make this request) and it's something I'll definitely be continuing to work toward.
